Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - Episode 108: U17 World Cup — USA v Japan review

Episode Date: October 31, 2019

Joe Lowery (aka @joeInCleats) joins the pod to talk about the US U17s’ second group stage match, this one against Asian champion Japan. Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the scuffed podcast. I'm Adam Bells in Minneapolis. With me is Greg Velasquez in Des Moines. We talk about U.S. men's soccer. Hey, the USU17s Drew Zero Zero with Japan and I got to say, I feel okay about it. I have, however, a guest who probably knows better than me. His name is Joe Lowry. He's a gentleman. He writes for the athletic. He has his own Phoenix Rising Tactics brand called Rising Tactics, and he's a regular guest on the Total Soccer Show, which if you're listening to this, you've probably, heard him. Thanks for joining me, Joe. Really appreciate it. Absolutely. Thanks for having me on, Adam. I'm writing that intro. It only makes me realize how uncreative that name for my Phoenix Rising Tactics brand really is. But no, it's all sarcasmus. Not the intent. Not the intent. So let's just start big picture thoughts. What did you, what did you think of the game? So this was my first real chance to sit down and watch the U-17s at

this World Cup in any sort of detail. And overall, the impressions I think we're mixed and that was kind of the sentiment that you got at with that opening line is the team had some moments where they looked dangerous, where they actually threatened Japan, but a lot of it was just sort of a mixed bag of so-sowness. Offensively and defensively, it was relatively uninspiring, but at the same time, not awful. And I think that's a bit of a fresh perspective compared to long stretches of the Senegal game. And you can correct me if I'm wrong. No, I totally agree.

Not awful. I'll take it. I'll take not awful all day with this performance when you think about what happened in the game against Senegal. No, and that's exactly right. Especially, it's hard for me just as a precursor to this conversation to reconcile the fact that this is a competitive tournament, but also it's kids that are playing this that still have a lot more developing to do. And so I don't know, this performance was a good reminder of that sort of clash of ideas that we all have in mind when we're watching these games. Yeah, standard disclaimer.

These are kids. They're going to change. Their game is going to change. So whatever we say about them is just a snapshot in time. Let's do the lineups real quick. The U.S. came out with five changes from the lineup that lost 4-1 to Senegal. Chitiru Odunzei replaced Damien Loss in goal. Nico Carrera replaced Tavon Gray, who was sent off against Senegal at centerback.

George Bello replaced Adam Armore. left back, Ethan Dabalar replaced Griffin Yow at right wing, and most surprising, Gio Raina was replaced by Andrew Jason on the left wing. Were you surprised by that? The captain, the star of the team, not starting the game? I mean, even just phrasing it like that kind of makes the answer have to be yes, right? Even if Raina didn't have the best performance in Senegal, the fact that he had that armband on and is still a unquestioned star and headliner on this squad. I mean, I was a little bit surprised that he was relegated to the bench obviously we saw him come on in the second half but outside of that move all of these changes that you just outlined seemed sort of well within the realm

of possibility for bickie to make between group stage games obviously it's a relatively high turnover high volume of players adjusting from one game to the next but frankly i'm not sure there's a whole lot of difference between a guy like a dunzaa and loss and goal or or between the depths of the winger position on either side so really outside of the rena move i i wasn't necessarily taken aback by any of those changes. And even the Rana move, I got messages from people saying, like, why isn't Rana starting? I don't know. There could be any number of reasons, but both wings did get replaced as starters for this game.

So, you know, they must do a lot of running. There might not be anything more to it than that. You know what I mean? Yeah, I'm with you. I'm not sure there's any sort of deep reasoning behind that move other than squad rotation and maybe Rana not having the best first game performance. Japan's 11 was Wakatsuki and Toyama

up front and then Mito Fujita Naruoka and Tamura in the midfield I'm just going by the Google lineup here Joe if you see something different let me know

and then Nakano Honda Suzuki and Hatta across the back line and Suzuki in goal the names you'll probably want to remember are what wakatsuki and then there are a couple subs who came on who were kind of a big deal in the scoring summary let why don't i turn it over to you like what did you see formation and tactics wise you are the you are the expert on that stuff i think uh well thank you first of all i think a lot

of the approach that japan took to this game uh was based around their defensive structure and the way they approached neutralizing the united states ability to build out from the back and to possess, especially in that first half. I think Japan took a smart approach to how they, they formatted their shape. They played sort of a narrow 4-4-2, which was really efficient in pressing the United States double pivot. So when you look at the United States lineup, it was sort of a midfield three with Saldania, Lava, and Buccio, but in buildup and in possession, it was mostly, you know, Saldania and Lava playing as a double pivot, and Buccio was a little bit higher, again, especially in that first half. And the way Japan pressed, they were smart. They didn't

press all the time so they can serve some energy, especially in a congested, you know, tournament with fixtures close together. But they pressed with either their front two blocking off passing angles to the double pivot or they pressed with with their midfield to pressing right up against the United States midfield too. And so regardless of of which, you know, which it was in any given moment, Japan almost always had those two players covered, which forced the United States to move the ball wide. And then can I try to attack from there? And, you know, that would be. fine if the United States has been a little bit more purposeful in their possession. They didn't move the ball quickly enough, again, especially in that first half in the opening

stages and throughout large stretches of the second half as well. They didn't move the ball quickly enough in possession to actually break through Japan's block with any consistency once they had advanced the ball up the field. And so I think a lot of this match really did center around that battle between Japan's defensive shape and that 4-4-2 and the United States ability or, you know, I should say inability to play through that. Yeah, no, that makes sense. And I, and I would say the U.S., I guess the only thing I would add to it is the U.S. was much more disciplined today than they were against Senegal on Sunday. Like, people were getting back. People were getting into position to defend, like notably

Gianluca Busio, I think put in a really good shift defending. And, you know, Japan, Japan did have some crosses that found heads and there were some real chances. There were a couple other real chances, but I would say the U.S. did a pretty good job of just being sort of pragmatic. We pressed a tiny bit, but there were big stretches of the game where we were just in a low block. The U.S. was fairly disciplined defensively, and I appreciated that after watching the Senegal game. I'm kind of with you on that. The United States defensive structure wasn't necessarily flashy. Like you mentioned, they did press a little bit at times, particularly at the start of the second half that those stick out in my mind where you know they pressed a little bit higher and created some

chances for their attack off of that pressure but on the whole it was sort of the united states taking a little bit more of a pragmatic defensive approach it wasn't always pretty right it wasn't you know always them moving as a unit to pressure but they they did still manage to get you know to apply that pressure on the ball at times again it wasn't flawless as you again as you mentioned they were able to play down the wing some japan they could get some crosses in from wide areas but if you're you know vicky setting up that defensive shape you'll take those chances from the wings over the central you know penetration down like right through midfield any day right there were a couple times there were a couple times it came down the middle of the field against us but mostly they didn't and um

do you want to should we go right into the scoring summary absolutely you good with that okay so um I would say a couple giveaways early from the U.S. Some sloppiness in our defensive third from pretty much everyone on the back line except Kobe Hernandez Foster. And, but nothing, you know,

no huge chances for Japan. And then in the ninth minute, a chance for the USA, I thought. Nice passage of play. Saladanya diagonal to Dabalera on the right wing and then he lays it off for Scali. Scali gives it to Lava and Lava Shimmie's

a guy and then plays a really good ball across for Busio. His header goes well over. The next big moment I have is in the 29th minute. Did you see anything else in the first half hour that you thought was noteworthy? The first half hour I did think was pretty quiet. That shimmy that you talked about right there from Lava was one of the most encouraging things I thought came out of the first half, which is a little bit disappointing to think about it that way, but it was a nice move from him to create a little bit of space. actually make some attacking movement happen for the United States. It's not an area of the field that I typically expect to see him in higher up on the right side. It's not an area that I've seen

him occupy a lot with Seattle, but as a midfielder, it's important that he has that versatility. And so, you know, to summarize, I think that was an encouraging moment from him that was one of the finer moments of any United States player in possession in this first half. Yeah. Yeah. It's a low bar, right? There wasn't that much that happened in the first half. Yeah. And I thought overall, Lava really struggled against Senegal. I thought he had a much better game tonight. And I guess I'm curious what you think is attributable to that. You know, like I thought Saldania and Lava played better tonight.

Is that just because of the difference in competition or the different type of competition they faced? Or do you think they actually played better? I think it can be a little bit of both, right? I think Japan's approach did allow them, though Japan pressed a little bit and moved the ball well in possession, I think they weren't overly physical. It did take some, I mean, Saldanya, especially, I can think of a couple moments in the first half where he, especially early on, was outmuscled a little bit for the ball. But I think they settled in, and that's maybe something that we saw the opposite of against

Senegal. Maybe as the game wore on, it was a little bit less efficient. and I think as this game continued, they became more efficient in their movement and in their spacing as a double pivot. And that could partially be just getting reps alongside each other. Obviously, these guys have played together earlier in the cycle, but now at this tournament, the second game of the group stage, they have a little bit more familiarity with each other in different situations and know how they're going to react. And so I think that might play into it a little bit as well. Yeah, that was, I would say Saldania and Lava's ability to connect passes in the middle was among the most.

encouraging things about the game for me tonight I mean obviously as you mentioned it didn't it didn't result in actual penetration of Japan's defense but they they looked competent and I would say that was one of the most encouraging things and I wonder like how encouraged should I be you know a lot encouraged or just or just a little Joe I think medium encouraged is is let's put the difference I don't I really struggle that this is really a little bit negative more negative that I intended to sound, but I struggle to take too many, like, resounding positives away from this match. It just, it was kind of right in the middle, right?

It wasn't great. It wasn't bad. And I think that really does translate to a lot of both the individual player analysis and as the United States approach this game as a whole. I think all of those kind of fit under that same umbrella, obviously with exceptions here and there, there were positive moments and negative moments based, you know, different positions throughout the match. But on the whole, I think this is, this is one.

of those situations that does sort of fit in that middle ground. Okay, fair enough. The 29th minute, Boussio hit a corner kick, and Nico Carrera, who was a little bit messy, I think maybe he was just nervous, you know. This goes back to him just being a kid. He's a young guy. This is his first start, his first minutes, and he struggled a little bit in the early going. And then he was unmarked on this corner kick and he couldn't put it on frame.

And you could tell he was disappointed himself. Absolutely. Just to add on that set piece, it was a nice, actually a nice design. I thought Joe Scali set a nice screen for Correta to run off of and connect with that Buccio corner kick. There's a small part of me that thinks that the screen was an accident, but I'm going to go ahead and give Scali a little bit of credit for executing that. 100% intention.

Yeah, exactly. And then there was a Buccio free kick that went just over. It was after a foul one by Pepe. And I guess this is notable. This was in the 40th minute, to me at least, just because the press kind of worked in this case, right? You mentioned that it wasn't super well-coordinated. I think you said that, right?

I mean, if I didn't, I'll say it now. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah. So this was a case where the press actually worked. Whether it was well-coordinated or not, the hustle and hard work put in Japan's defensive third resulted in a decent chance. Busio free kick just over.

And then the last thing that I noticed from the first half, and I'll open it up for you after this, was the 42nd minute, a chance for Japan, just a nice move up the right flank. That move, I thought, again, right before halftime, I thought there was a chance that that was going to sort of be indicative of how the second half was going to go. We'd seen the United States get a number of half chances or open headers on that corner kick like we talked about. But they really outside of that maybe first header from Buccio off of. of the Leva Shimi in the ninth minute, there hadn't been a ton of clear-cut attacking chances of the U.S. and as the first half war on in Japan had that sequence in the 42nd minute in particular, I personally was kind of wondering if that was going to illuminate the second half

and in Japan were going to kind of take control a little bit. And so when the United States came out of halftime, I was encouraged with their response and their ability to get on the front foot, even though it didn't, you know, it didn't last for the entirety of that half, which probably would have been unreasonable to expect. It was an encouraging response to to Japan's first half performance in that, that 42nd minute chance in particular. Yeah. And it's not like, it's not like Japan was just running us off the pitch. It was, it was just that they were, you know, they were a little bit, maybe a little bit more dangerous than us in the first half. I would say the second half overall, we looked better than Japan. That's my

opinion until like the last 10 minutes or so and um the 47th minute uh we saw our first real chance it was a bello throw in it went from peppy to lava lava lava played it across the field to scally and scaly and da valer did some nice little work with scali underlapping double air and then it was a passing combination of double air busio scali in the pocket right back working in the pocket Burrhalter style and then Jason arriving on the left wing so so Scali plays it across to Jason Jason hits a firm but you know relatively manageable shot from about 20 yards and it's parried by the keeper into Ricardo Pepey who has who struggled against Senegal as did everyone to be honest and peppy bundled it home but peppy was offside by two yards at least might have been

three might have been ten might have been a first down it wasn't it was it was two or three yeah um i just talked for a long time joe you want to you want to take it from here for a little while i do yeah that so to to highlight that 47th minute opportunity this was i think at least my favorite attacking sequence from the match um you walk through it really well the side to side switch from the left side to the right side and then to an extent back from the right to left again ending ending with the ball at jason's feet uh right outside the box that That was more proactive ball movement than we'd seen earlier on in the game. And I think that was really encouraging to see the United States take a more aggressive approach to possession.

They came out of halftime. Like I talked about there being a lot of, you know, sort of middle ground things in this match. They came out of halftime with a much more aggressive approach than I expected to see for them. And that was, I mean, it was refreshing to watch. They move the ball with purpose in a way that I'm not even sure we've seen, brother's national team do or Ramos's U-20s, I guess, X Ramos's U-20s, really move the ball. They move the ball quickly, horizontally, vertically. It was great to see.

It was a little bit reminiscent of the qualifying tournament, the Kaki Kaff qualifying tournament. And that was something that we certainly didn't see against Senegal, not for any sustained amount of time. And I thought, I was hoping to see earlier on in the first half and didn't. And so this was a reminder of what this group is capable of, that there is. skill with these guys and that they can sort of, you know, bundle it together into, into a cohesive unit and actually cause danger with the ball, which if we're being honest, is what we all want to see from these United States youth teams. Yeah, really well said.

Nobody could say it better. I certainly couldn't. Let's see. Raina corner kick in the 69th minute is the next thing I have headed over by Scali. Scali had a pretty good chance there. It was a Saldania, Raina, Dabalera combination up the right wing that resulted in the corner kick to begin with. So that was also pretty nice as I remember it. Sevent second minute, a good passage of play.

I just noted this not because it was a chance, but just a good passage of play results in a free kick. And Raina almost puts it in. I think it was comfortably over the bar. and I have in my notes here that at this point in the game I'm feeling like we're very defensively disciplined and committed you know and I I guess we can we go back to that a little bit like what did you see from the U.S. defending and maybe compare it to how we looked against Senegal if you were. Yeah, no absolutely. So one thing to note is that Pepe had gone down with a knock at this point of the game and Raina had come in and was playing more of that central striker role. So he was up top defending at the top of the United States block. And I think he brought energy, which was helpful, right?

He brought some intensity to the top of that shape. And even though they weren't extending much into Japan's half, they weren't extending much into the attacking half when they were without the ball to try to pressure higher up the field, having a little bit of energy and a little bit of bite at the top of that block was huge. Rana came in, I literally have in my notes that he was shoving dudes defensively. I mean, it was a foul, but there was a sequence in the 64th minute where he literally ran through one guy to try to get the ball and then it kind of extended his arms to muscle another person off the ball. And it was called for a foul, but it was that intensity that I think embodied a little bit of how the United States were defending.

They weren't flawless, right? I mean, that's unreasonable to expect that. They still had some gaps, some miscommunications. There were times when Raina would pressure, eager with a little bit more fresh legs and the midfield block wouldn't step behind him. but compared to that Senegal game, it was a much more cohesive overall unit than I think we saw for long stretches of the first group stage game. And that alone, especially in a tournament, that kind of efficiency is a positive, right? Because it's easy in these matches, especially later on in the game when we're in the later stages of the match to come out and not have the same level of overall cohesiveness and the overall ability to defend as a group. And there were breakdowns, but on the whole, I think that was another positive takeaway from this game that maybe is a direct contrast to the Senegal match.

Yeah, totally. To me, we looked much less naive. And I do have questions about how it'll be fascinating to see how Japan does against Senegal. My suspicion at this point is that Senegal is far and away the strongest team in the group. But I guess we'll see, you know. 80th minute Oh no let me go back 73rd minute

This is when Japan starts We're going to see a string of Japanese chances here Right back Hada does a simple one two With Tamura Who was kind of a midfielder And then Hada hits a ball across That gets headed by Wakatsuki

On frame But Oduonze Who I think it was maybe a little bit surprising That he replaced Loss Maybe it wasn't even surprising But it's just interesting because they're both highly rated goalkeeping prospects. O'Donzei made a big save, I thought, there.

And he had a couple other big saves on the night as well. What did you make of him as a goalkeeper? I thought he did well. I agree with your assessment of his replacing loss in the lineup. Both well thought of goalkeepers, still developing, both of them, I think, working with their feet. I know you and you and Oakeh talked about this in your review of the Senegal game, loss, you know, has some work to do in terms of his distribution. And I think that's something that can be said about a lot of the keepers in this age group. But in terms of this pure shot-stopping

ability, this is a great example. This chance from Japan, you know, he extends. He's a big guy. Like he's, he's a large man, child, whatever the combination is at this point. He, he extended and made a big save on this play. And that, that's encouraging as well. That's another positive in the, it's another tick in the positive columns for specific. moments that we can use to build off of for the future. And so whether the goalkeeper for the United States for the rest of this tournament is lost or O'Dunzee, I think there's some real shot-stopping capability. And that, again, in a tournament style can really keep the United States in these games and in contention to actually advance out of the group. Yeah. And I thought that save in particular

was a big one. It was clearly his best save of the night, a really good shot on frame from Wakatsuki with his head. 80th minute, the next chance from Japan, across from Nakano on the left wing and a header by the sub-Nishikawa, and it was flashed just wide. No save to be made. I think Kobe was a marker, and I think this is worth noting. He was picked on a little bit in the air in the second half, didn't you think? No, absolutely. I think we saw a little bit of the downside of what happens when you play a smaller, you know, outside back at centerback, right? That's a definite downside. You guys have talked about this before,

and I think it's, you know, it's talked about a decent amount in the United States youth national team kind of discussion in this discussion surrounding these teams. On Twitter, you're using a euphemism for Twitter. On Twitter, it's talked about a lot. And, you know, you saw some of the downsides of that in this game, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, although Kobe was excellent at everything he can control,

he cannot control that he is short. He is the size of a person who plays left back. He's not the size of a person who plays centerback. 85th minute. It was a, this is a chance for the U.S., a Japanese corner kick headed clear by Raina, and then it kind of pings around. I think Busio was involved, if I remember correctly. And then Dao Baleir, one time, first time passed to Raina down the left wing,

and Raina carries it at goal. he kind of runs straight at goal with the ball at his feet. No easy pass. We're not going to flame him for what he did against Senegal again where he didn't square it to Pepe. This was not the same type of situation. No easy pass. Holds off a defender and then tries to finish

and it bounces off the keeper. Decent save from the Senegalese keeper. All right. Any thoughts before I go to these last two chances, Joe? I will touch on just one thing from that. last sequence. We saw Renna come on in the second half in this match. And it was kind of until that,

that 85th minute chance where he, he almost took the ball coast to coast, down the left wing, where I remembered kind of why he's in this team, because he's a true talent with the ball at his feet. You know, you can talk about his decision making that needs some improvement. It seems like I haven't seen much of any of him

with, you know, Dortmund's youth teams, but it does seem like that tends to be a little bit more of an issue when he's playing with the national team than a club team, although if I'm incorrect on that, I'm happy to accept that. But, you know, in this, in this sequence, his ability, his, you know, pure raw dribbling ability to carry the ball up the field, to, like, outmussel a guy on his back on his hip to get the step on him and just sneak in front and get a shot off on goal. Like, that's a game-changing ability. We criticize him in enough other ways, but that's something I think that maybe we don't even appreciate enough for as much as he's talked about in this pool as being

the star of this group that ability is so unique at any age level against any sort of opposition that that's definitely something to take away from this match and to remember that regardless of how this tournament goes to the United States that they do have this player coming up and learning from quality youth coaches and it has the ability the special ability to make plays happen so if that decision making can get refined just a little bit, man, he's going to be a special player. Yeah, totally agree. I mean, so going into this last match of the group against the Netherlands who have now

lost to Senegal 3-1, we lost to them 4-1, it's a little bit different circumstances because there was a red card late. But that, going into that game, we have, going to that game against the Netherlands, we have somebody, like you said, who can change the game. He can break the game open just with. his individual ability and like you said that is that is something that should be appreciated i don't think there's anybody else on the team like that except maybe cobi Hernandez foster and he's not an attacker right now he's a centerback agreed yeah i think Kobe and and rena are

the two guys in my mind with the highest potentials on this on this group obviously you can talk about what their best roles are whether for Kobe that's left back or rena that's you know underneath the striker on the wing as up top i mean everybody's got different opinions on where these guys should play. But both of those... Only mine is the right one, though. I accept that, Adam. I do.

I really do. No, I'm kidding. Yeah, there are a lot of kids. They're big time. Like, these two kids are really high potential, and I'm excited to see how they develop over the next couple of years before the U-20 cycle really gets underway for this age group.

Yeah, totally. 90-1st minute, another chance for Japan in stoppage time. This is centerback Honda, plays a pass to this. Nakano, the sub, and he lays it off for Wakatsuki, who takes a couple touches in between the lines. Saldana is the closest defender, but I don't defend him. I don't blame him too much for what happened here. He has a rip from 18 yards because nobody steps.

Another four centerback steps. Oduenzai with another good save. It might have hit the post anyway, but let's not take a chance on that. Another good save from O'Donzee. And then 93rd minute, final chance of the game comes from Japan. Tsuki 1V1 with Carrera after somebody just dumps it in the channel for him and he beats Carrera and his shot flashes just wide, just actually just, you know, near post wide. So those are the chances from the game. What conclusions do you draw?

Honestly, as we've gone through this, not only this scoring summary, but as we've kind of gone back and forth on some of these events throughout the match, I think my outlook on this game against Japan, has improved. I think I've gotten a little bit more positive about the entire match. Still, I think a lot of things that weren't great or that could and should be improved on, hopefully between now and that game against the Netherlands. But there really were flashes of potential, both from a team-wide tactical perspective and from an individual perspective. I mean, we talked about some of these guys already.

You've touched on Kobe's passing ability from the back and his ability to control what he can control and do those things very well. Raina, preventing a little bit of burst offensively and defensively off the bench, was really big. His role for that final group stage game and potentially beyond will definitely be something to watch. O'Don's ability to sort of hop in goal and make a real positive impact, all these individual performances for some of these headlining players. And then some actual genuine, cohesive play from the team as a whole, right?

We see some of these passing moves at the beginning of the second half, some pressing that even though at times it wasn't the most cohesive, We saw them actually have a shape and be able to affect Japan's build up a little bit. And those things are encouraging to me, and I'm optimistic that they're going to continue to develop throughout this tournament. Yeah, I agree. And like I said at the top of the show, I thought Levin Saldaña's performance was really encouraging. I thought they played – I mean, really encouraging is too strong. It was encouraging.

They played much better than they did against Senegal. They played much better, I thought, in the second half than they did in the first half. And Bellow, surprisingly a little bit to me, it looked pretty strong defensively, pretty reliable. That's another, let me throw another encouraging thing in the encouragement box. And then Lava, yeah, I already mentioned Lava. I thought Pepe struggled again. He's never really got, he's never really found his rhythm with this squad.

I don't know. Have you been watching since the Nike Friendlies? Yeah, I mean, not with my full attention, but I've found kind of the same thing that he doesn't seem to measure, or at least his performances don't seem to measure up to his talent level, like the quality that we know he has and he's shown with Dallas. Yeah. And then, yeah, he just, I don't know if, I don't know how USL League One compares to the U17 World Cup. It might not compare favorably, but he hasn't quite, he hasn't quite put it together. And then I thought Nico Carrero was a little sloppy at the beginning, but he kind of settled into the game. Not 100% polished, but for a first big game for him, I think he'll be happy with his performance.

What did you think of his performance compared to Grays in that Senegal game? Maybe setting the competition aside as much as is actually possible, just their skill sets and how they meshed with the rest of that backline and connecting the midfield. Did you think there was a significant uptick from one to the other, or were they kind of similar in your mind? Pretty similar. I thought Gray, I would trust Gray a little bit more isolated one B-1. I don't know. What about you? Yeah, I think I agree.

Gray had a couple of moments against Senegal where he was able to deal with pressure with a guy on his back and kind of turn out of that and then play forward. And Carrera showed, once he settled a little bit, he showed that he has some ability on the ball. But maybe this was just my predisposition to think of career a little bit higher just because, you know, the United States is competing with Mexico to get him. And, you know, we've heard a lot about his ability playing, you know, in the Dallas Academy and getting some minutes with them. I expected, I guess I expected a little bit more from him on the ball. I expected him to be a little bit more polished. But that's not necessarily a bad thing that he wasn't. He still got plenty of time to develop.

But I was curious to get your read on the comparison because. You know, Kobe does seem to be sort of a lockdown guy at left centerback to see if we sort of had an idea of who the first choice right centerback should be, at least in our minds. But it does seem pretty close made with a slight edge to gray, you know, if I had to make the decision. Yeah, I'd give a slight edge to gray too. And even though he got the red card, you know, obviously he had his struggles against Senegal. But those were late. And I think for the first hour plus, he was very, very good in that game. I gotta go.

I think I have to go. Anything else from you? No, I don't think I've got too much. I'm looking forward to the third group stage match. Hopefully it'll be a continued improvement on this one as this one was to Senegal. Yeah, Joe, I really appreciate it. You're a mensch.

We're going to have Matt Hartman on the show late Saturday, early Sunday. So tune in for that, everybody. Thanks for listening.